This invention relates generally to well water filtration systems, and more particularly to well water filtration systems in which the well water that is resident in a tank or reservoir is itself periodically removed from the tank or reservoir, filtered, and returned to the tank or reservoir.
A number of purification and filtration systems have been developed for the market over the years in an attempt to filter and purify well water, such as ozone systems, chlorination systems, reverse osmosis systems, in-line filter systems, and many others. The costs of installation and maintenance of these systems are substantial. Moreover, these systems are wasteful, typically wasting roughly half of the well water in order to clean the other half. Some of these systems simply do not work at all.
The vast majority of the presently available well water filtration systems attempt to filter the well water as it is drawn from the water table and passed through an in-line filter on its way to a well water storage tank or reservoir. Other filtration systems attempt to filter the water in a similar in-line fashion as the well water exits the storage tank for its end use. These systems are inadequate and vastly inferior to the filtration systems of the present invention. First, such in-line filtration systems ordinarily pass the well water through the filter or filters only once. Second, these in-line filtration systems filter the water at the wrong time, either causing the holding tank to fill slowly, or worse, preventing the fast supply of well waters to the end use. What is needed is an efficient well water filtration system that filters the well water as it is being held in the tank or reservoir, in those long periods between the time the water is drawn from the well and the time the water is delivered to its end uses.
This present invention involves a well water filtration system in which a portion of the water laden with sediment and debris residing in a water storage tank or reservoir is periodically removed by a pump from the center of the bottom of the tank, passed through one or more sand filters, and returned to the tank. The technique developed in the present invention is to cause a strong suction near the bottom-center of the tank or reservoir causing the resident water to rotate around a generally central axis of rotation within the tank.
This rotary motion, whether slow or a fast vortex, causes particulate matter, debris, sediment, and contaminants to break free from suspension within or on top of the well water and gravitate to the bottom of the tank. The rotary motion also causes the sediment and contaminants once at the bottom of the tank to move toward the center of the bottom of the tank and accumulate in substantially higher concentration than elsewhere in the tank. Either the same vortex suction line or a second suction line, or both, are fit with one or more collector orifices at or near the center of the bottom of the tank to collect the accumulating sediment and debris and direct this debris-laden water to one or more filters where the sediment and debris is filtered out.
The filtered water is then returned to the well water tank through one or more return jets. The jets may be angled so as to return the filtered water in the direction of the rotation of the water or may be angled so as to direct the filtered water to noticeable xe2x80x98deadxe2x80x99 spots within the tank. That is, in uneven tanks or reservoirs, once the well water is nearly all filtered, dead spots may be noticeable from the top of the tank through the otherwise clear well water. The return jets can then be used somewhat like a water pick at those dead spots. In evenly cylindrical tanks, the return jets may direct the filtered water in the direction of the rotation of the well water caused by the suction line, thereby aiding in the development of the rotation of all of the water in the tank. Alternatively, the return jets may be angled to return the filtered water in the opposite direction in order to cause additional agitation of the well water to further release the sediment and contaminants from suspension in the well water.
Additionally, the return jets may be equipped with an aerator for the introduction of air bubbles into the well water tank. The benefits of aerators in the case of spas are lauded by many as including killing resident algae, preventing future algae buildup, and removing carbon dioxide and sulfate compounds, among other benefits. The inventor has determined that the aerators also assist in removing iron from solution. As a result, the iron drops out of suspension and accumulates with the other contaminants. This filtration process may be initiated manually or automatically by incorporating an adequate time clock and timer switch.
The filtration system of the present invention can readily be fit to an existing tank or can be part of a new tank. The only alteration required for an existing tank is the insertion of the one or more suction lines and the one or more return lines through an intake port in the top of side of the tank. From time to time, the well water tank is removed from the pump line and the filters are run in reverse in order to clear out the particulate matter that has built up in the filter. This backwash phase of the filtration system may be accomplished manually or by automatic timer.
An object of the present invention is to provide for efficient and thorough methods for cleaning and filtering well water for industrial, agricultural, and residential use, filtering the well water while the water is resident in the well water tank.
Another object is to provide a filtration system that obtains much higher purification of the well water than other filtration systems presently available. A further object is to provide a filtration system that can deal with particularly dirt-laden well water. Another object is to provide such a system in a portable package, as well as a filtration system that may be easily retrofit to existing tanks needing very little alterations to the existing tank.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a well water filtration system that creates a swirling motion or vortex in the water in the retaining tank so that particulate matter is freed from suspension and gathers in the center at the bottom of the tank where, from time to time, the sediment-laden water in the center-bottom of the tank is pumped away and collected in a filter, and the filtered water is returned to the retaining tank.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a filtration system that incorporates one or more aerators that further promote the removal of algae and other contaminants from the well water.